Official User Reviews Thread
Post reviews only

Here is a thread for us game lovers to review video games we tried.Only rules will be1) don't shit on other peoples reviews. we all have different opinions2) every post made must have a review in it. (i'll make a different thread for asking questions about the reviews)3) you can review any game u want in any detail but must have a blank out of 10 rating (ex 8 out of 10) and follow rating scale4) if u have any suggestions make them in the other thread (Official Review Discussion Thread)5) all reviewers must have logged at least 5 hours of gametime with it. none of these i picked it up for 5 minutes and it sucks deal

i thought this would be a good way to give each other game advice and share opionions

(rating Scale)10 - classic9.0 to 9.9 - must have8.0 to 8.9 -must try, most people will buy it7.0 to 7.9 - can pass the time between better games5.0 to 6.9 - not really worth your time. some gamers might enjoy it3.0 to 4.9 - crappy but could be worse1.0 to 2.9 - avoid at all costs

OverviewThe point of this game is to collect as many items as possible. You do so by getting gifts or buying them. To buy them you have to earn money. The game gives you a variety of ways to earn money including smaller mini game, and 2 main games.

Gameplaythere are a more then a few gameplay modes. the variety is what amkes the game so amusing. the 2 main parts of the game to earn money are playing beach volleyball and racing jet skis. the volleyball is fun and addicting and uses only 2 buttons (the A and B ) and the thumbstick. Racing is a little different and more complicated but equally as fun and very tough. Smaller ways to earn money are through mini game such as pool hopping, tug of war, butt battle, water slide, beach flags, and going to the casino. The casino includes poker, blackjack, slots roulette, and craps. The more money you get you can but different bikinis, accessories and other items to collect as many as possible. While doing all this another part of the game is keeping your partner happy and developing relationships (RPG element) u do this by winning and giving gifts. Also you get a camera and can relax on the beach while shooting photos of your chatarcter and saving them to your album.9.0

Graphics

amazing as usual. the character models look excellent and the environments even better. the water is truly amazing while jet ski racing. My onli gripes are they way over exaggerated the boobs. even when there not moving there bouncing almost comically and not realistic. the hair also needs a little more upgrades but its still the best in any game i seen to date for long hair.9.0

Soundsoundtrack fits the game well but really not anything people will wnat to listen to for hours. luckily you can create your own custom soundtrack. other then that there arne't many sound effects and the voices are decent and diaglue is small.7.0

Positives-variety in gameplay and all are fun-lots of items to collect-great graphics, custom soundtrack

negatives-unrealistic "bouncing"-getting women to accept gives can be frustrating

Overviewa true RPG where you pick your character and his skills. you start off in a dungeon and you see the king get assaniated. he gives you instructions. all of it is tied to the gates of oblvion opening up and you must close them and find out whats behind it all.

Gameplaythe gameplay is very open ended. there are "mini games" that allow you to persuade people, pick locks, and create potions that increase your skills. The fighting takes some skill but you have to keep leveling up. you have a main quest and many side quests. the menus are easy to use and help keep you on track (unlike elder scrolls 3) over 400 hours of gameplay and you will get pulled in this game9.5

Graphicsamazing. the world looks beautiful from the water to the tress. the chracter models look amazing as weel. only gripe is the faces could be better. other then that its possible the overall most beautiful game i've seen9.5

sounddone beautufully. the voices come form teh direction they are relative to you. great voice acting and more dialogue then war and peace9.5

positives-plenty of things to do-graphics-replay value but will u ever have enough time to beat it once?-more downloadable levels

The guys in epic really did it this time. Creating Gears of War, one of the 360s premiere titles gave 360 gamers nothing but a great 3ps. The story starts off as Marcus Fenix (you) are in a jail on the planet Sera. A former COG in the Gears of War, Marcus was put in jail for inapropriate battle procedure. The gameplay begins as Dominic Santiago (a fellow COG, and Marcus' buddy) lets you out, suits you up, and gives you a weapon. Within the first minute of the game you realize how much control you have over your characters movements, practically using one button. Smoothly developed this system works perfectly as you can run, roll, lean against a wall, and even blindfire with one button. The story is somewhat freeform, as you can choose which directions you would like to procede through, however they both lead to the same place everytime.

Gameplay - Gears of War has 3 different difficulties that you can play through: Normal, Hardcore, and Insane. each difficulty has 5 Acts, consisting of 30 chapters. The chapters vary for defending, driving, breaking and entering , and even chasing monsters. These monsters are called locusts, or greater known as The Horde. What makes GOW very different from Halo is that Locusts come out from under the ground in emergence holes. Throughout acts you can encounter many of these, luckily you can easily clog it with a simple toss from your grenade. Oh and another thing, instead of an energy sword or a plasma rifle you have a chainsaw (Pic from IGN) the chainsaw could possibly be one of the coolest kills in video game history, youll think so too when the blood and guts go everywhere. The online gameplay, while extremely fun choosing from over 10 original maps, and 10 available in downloadable content with 2 teams (COG and LOCUST) consisting of 4 players each can sometimes be a pain. Have fun finding your friends. Thats right an older patch prohibits matchmaking with friends, to even up ranks. While it benefits ranking, what good is a video game if you cant share it with your buddies? Other than that GOW has great online achievements that will keep you playing for hours, always something to do.9.5

Sounds - The voice overs never get old, primarily because every act your character says something different to go along with the story. Taking phone calls, great sound effects (water rippling, wind, footsteps) The weapons sound fantastic and if you get sniped, youll definitely hear it, well before your head got shot off, literally.10

Positives -One of the best story lines in a Third Person Shooter.Great weapon selectionGreat ControlsFun online playHours of playback timeGreat 360 achievementsDownloadable content

Negatives - No Online Party SystemNo Online Rank Symbol, online a numberWhen you step down from a height, a horrible animation occurs as if bunny hopping down a single stair.

Overall Rating - 9.5 A must own for a 360, if you have not played this game be sure to buy a pre played copy from gamefly or your local eb games. worth every penny.

A great image from Gears of War, showing Marcus and excellent graphics, and the view of your Third person shooter. (IGN)

OverviewSimulation golf game centered around Tiger Woods or a character built by yourself. FEatures over 15 real life PGA courses from Pebble Beach to Pinewood as well as PGA tour members and off tour gals like Annika Sorenstam.

GameplayDifficult at first to get a handle on, especially if building a chracter. Putting is the most difficult, howver once you get the basic feel of everything it becomes very addictive. One of those games that leaves you fingers sore after playing9.0

GraphicsIncredibly realistic, I used to play golf everyday and can't get over how ridiculous everything is: from the dimples of the ball, to the waves on a coastal course to the poutting green grass. The different swing styles are mastered: Think MLB 2k7 with the different batter styles, except in TW 07 it is mastered. John Daly's swing looks like Daly's swing, Woods flop shots look EXACTLY like Woods' flop shots etc.10

soundGolfer's voices recorded from the actual Tour members. Kind of Cheesey sound bytes but doesnt retract from gameplay. The onyl thing holding this above a 5 rating is that the shaft cutting through the air and all the course sound are incredibly dead on7.5

Overviewtake control of a team of 4 heroes (out of 40+ options see character list below) in the action /RPG game. You can let the computer auto assign points so that the RPG element is low in teh game and stick to just teh action.

Gameplayamazingly addicting. enough characters to satisfy any one preference ( i use hulk, cap america, cyclops, human torch) you can change members whenever u want and thanks to the team level system the player swapped in will be the same level as teh one swapped out. so if you halfway through and decide u don't want to use someone or u unlock a character you can change them out. each player has special powers you can use to attack hordes of enimies. boss battles take stratagy and are fun to play. plenty of save points throughout the game make gameplay not frustrating but enjoyable. you can play with up to 3 friends on the same system or over xbox live and they can jump in and out whenever they want for co-op play as well as an arcade mode over live.9.0

graphics.look nice on next gen but could be better. not up to par with ither 360 titles. could be due to it not being an exclusive title. this game is avaiable on every system (including GBA and PSP)7.0

Soundssome characters have funny diaglogue. some not so much. music fits well. voice acting is excellent.8.0

The series picks up where the NFL 2k series left off, without a doubt. The styling of the game is unique to 2k, that's for sure. But you'll quickly realize just how important the NFL license is to making a football game. The guys at 2k get an A for effort, but you'll quickly find yourself not caring without the familiarity of the NFL at your grasp.

After the novelty of having John Elway and Barry Sanders on my own custom team, the New York Crusaders, wore off, I just felt myself going through the motions. The team I was playing against was Quarterback'd by Neil O'Donnell, but other than that, it's not a team that I've grown to accept and expect according to NFL standards.

The team selection process is great. They do have a lot of legendary NFL players. You're permitted to select 2 Gold Players to lead your team, 3 Silver players, and 6 Bronze. My team consisted of the aforementions Elway and Sanders, Wesley Walker, Mike Singletary, Pepper Johnson, Too Tall Jones, William Perry, among others. You select 11 guys you want, and the computer fills the rest of your team on their own.

I don't feel the change is significant enough for a game that's had three years to be made and no deadline in accordance with an NFL schedule. I have to admit, I kind of frowned a bit when I heard some of the same commentary from 3 years ago. Not even just the same lines, but literally the same soundbite. They had three years to bring this into this generation, and I would've wished for something better.

As for the little things -- the Halftime Report with highlights, and the Postgame Show are always wonderful additions. It's cool to see something you did in slow motion with commentary. The cut-scenes between plays are also gorgeous. But it's not enough. The legends provide quite the novelty, but I assure you that it's certainly no substitute for playing an NFL Licensed game. Part of the allure of buying a new Madden every year is playing with your favorite team's new addition, trading another team's rookie that you wanted to your team, and of course, playing with your new superstar that emerged the season before with his updated attributes. Yes, Elway, Sanders, and Walker were quite the offensive juggernaut in my experience with APF 2k8, but the attachment to the teams doesn't exist. The emotion behind playing a game as the Jets against the Dolphins isn't there.

On a side note, the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard in a game in years. I had no urge to plug in my iPod.

Rating - 7.0It's a playable football game, but it's not going to take your mind off Madden, at all.

OverviewBoth are simulation games for teh NFL. Madden features a largly detailed franchise mode as well as mini camp modes and is the only officially licensed game that includes all the current NFL teams and players. APF is a fanatsy game where you get to pick your players from all time greats such as reggie white, dan mairno, john elway, barry sanders etc.

GameplayAs far as realism goes, the nod goes to APF. the offense is much more realistic and you won't see the 70+ points that u put up in madden. players play more realistically and the rating system is pure abilities compared to number ratings that nobody is ever happy with. However madden imore fun and gives u more control over the players to make impact players yourself. in madden i consistently switch to DBs to pick of passes and jar balls for fumbles. nod goes to madden. But madden can be frustrating like injuring your QB on a small hit and your back-up sucks so u lose, or fumbling 4 times in a row for no reason, or a LBer jumping 10 feet for a Pick one time then the next time he doesn't even try to jump and it goes over his head for a TD. plus funky ball physics lead to stupid turnovers as well.

OptionsGoes to madden. The franchise mode is deep the mini camp is fun. some of the other extras are boring (like the ring). APF doesn't have many extras. the seasons mode is no different then playing a bunch of exhibition games. there is no reward or multiple seasons.

Overallmadden is the better overall game, but APF has its charm. i brought my copy for 7.50 new form target. well worth the money. if you can find it for under 15 dollars i suggest buying it. you'll get your moneys worth. i wouldn't buy it for the original 60 dollars though. Madden was worth the 60 dollars to me but its not that great a game

Ratings

APF

positives+ most realistic football game+ cool roster choices

Negatives- 2 biggest NY stars not in game? (LT and Namath)- not as fun as madden

OverviewMass Effect is a RPG/TPS/Stratgey game. its tough to fit this in one catagory. You start off creating a player that picks the history of you character and talents. your talents get split between 3 categories. fighting, tech, and biotic. you command yourself and 2 other players of your choice , each with there own abilities as you try to stop an intergalactic disaster. your allowed to be ruthless of nice (paragon and renegade) depending on your decisions. also you level up your abilities for more powerful attacks and special attacks. the game allows you freedom to explore worlds and travel to different planets completing missions at your own pace or you can just explore.

Gameplayyou get free roaming ability to talk to people and complete missions and comand you ship. fighting is as a TPS. you can change weopens and use speical attacks and abilites using teh RB and LB buttons. its fighting is simalr to gears of wars which is taking cover and firing at teh right time. the fighting is so good you could remove the RST and PRG parts of teh game and make it a straight shooter and it would still be a great game. you also get access to a mako which is similar to a warthog with more weopens to help explore large areas.

SoundVoice acting is great and teh conversation system is revolutionary and makes it seem like real conversations, not teh chppy canned responses your used to in video games. all the sound effect are on point as well. musical score adds to the immersion of the game

positives+ lots of stuff to do and explore+ all aspects of teh game are done well. nothing is weak+ fighting is fun and original+ story is amazing

Negatives- map and journal could be a little better. Thats about it

Perplexing? why do games have lesbian options in them now

Gameplay 10.0

graphics 10.0

sound 9.5

Overall 10.0

this is a must by game. it will give halo 3 a run for GOTYplain amazing. possibly the most beautiful overall game i've ever seen. Period. nothng bad here at all.

Overview - This being the first installment of COD in todays day and age, the story begins with you being promoted to an SAS group, your name is Soap MacTavish.You also control a character in the USMC by the name of Paul Jackson. The story is basically 2 stories that coincide with each other at first, then merge after a nuclear attack goes off in the Middle East, killing Paul Jackson. The SAS and USMC forces then combine and you try to stop "The 4 Horsemen" who are the masterminds of these nuclear attacks. Missions range from frontline warfare, ghillie suit undercover work, even a level in Chernobyl (if you dont know see http://en.wikipedia....nobyl_disaster).

Single Player Campaign - 9/10

My first go around I played on hardened and it was pretty difficult, i had some troubles early on but I eventually beat it.... the positioning of enemies sometimes changes so its not like you will know where all of your enemies are 100% of the time which is a good thing, its just hard to adjust to. The story mode i believe is one of the best war game stories i have ever experienced, i actually felt that i was a part of the Unit. Captain Price (SAS Leader) give out orders to you, and some to NPCs (Non Playable CHaracters) so its not like you do ALL of the work which is good, i got the feeling that i wasnt just playing a game, i was in a war. The only reason it did not get a 10 is because i just wanted to play more! some would say it is a short story mode, or maybe it just felt that way because i love this game so much.

Realism - 10/10

The thing i absolutely love about COD is its realism. In the Mission "One Shot, One Kill" you are sent to assinate Imhran Z. (one of the 4 horsemen) in a flashback mission where you play Capt Price. This is the level in Chernobyl in which i stated, the reason this is my favorite level is not only because you must carry your partner (MacMillan) around once a downed helicopter crushes his legs and you must fend off hundreds of enemies while your helicopter takes its sweet ass time, but also because of the realism and REAL buildings that are in this level.

all of these are in COD4, to perfect scale, color, and texture AMAZING

Online 10/10

Online in COD4 is its strong point, you earn new weapons, ranks, perks, and challenges when you level up. Get 100 kills with an M16? you get new camo to put on your weapon of choice along with a plethora of attachments ranging from grenade launcher to red dots. The more challenges you do the faster you level up. The more you level up the more perks and equipment you get. Perks are in 3 categories. The 1st one you pick an extra weapon (ranging from flash grenades to claymores, then better level the better the perk) the 2nd is anywhere from quick reload time to extra health, to deeper bullet penetration. The third one has perks that remain continuous like dropping a live grenade when you die or pulling out your pistol right before you die to try and take your opponent down with you.

Sound - 8/10Gameplay - 10/10

Final 10/10 Game of the Year IMO

Positives - +online play has over 12 modes+great story mode+a bonus epilogue level +good little side achievements from colllecting intel from smashing TVs+throw back grenades+upgrade your weapons with each kill+not a more realistic shooter out there